Continuing Professional Development of TESOL Practitioners

Book excerpt: This textbook serves as a current and comprehensive resource on effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for TESOL practitioners in various contexts around the world at various stages in their careers. The practices described by language teachers, teacher educators and professional development providers in this book offer a vision of critical issues to consider when designing and evaluating professional development opportunities. Effective professional development requires careful planning informed by the realities of the local context and the specific needs of the teachers. This textbook is designed to support those who provide professional development opportunities by presenting global perspectives on professional development for a range of teaching contexts at different language levels. Each chapter includes a discussion about the type and source of support available in the given context, as well as a reflection on the challenges that exist for both teachers and CPD providers. These insights serve to help CPD designers and providers as they problematize teacher development opportunities in their context. Each chapter concludes with a synthesis of the strengths of CPD in the local context and a discussion of future directions that target opportunities for transformation and improvement. This volume celebrates teachers, teacher educators and CPD providers around the world. High-impact practices are presented from fifteen countries: Cameroon, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the United States of America.